I have been on Twitter for quite a while now and was very uninvolved in the whole experience.   I just didn't get it, but watching others and being more involved has a bell going off in my mind.

Twitter says they are:

Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

To me, this is not what Twitter is all about.  This may be the original intention of it's creators but the people I follow are not using it this way.  Twitter is not about "What are you doing?" but conversing with friends and like-minded people about things we are interested in and care about, whether it be work, hobbies or family.  People don't want to know that I am taking a nap, eating lunch or emptying our dishwasher.  People care about what is important to them, that's it.

The last month or so I have used Twitter more and more and with the additional use I am seeing the usage pattern that fits my style of working.  It has been like a chat client for some conversations and short blog posts at other times.

I write for InfoQ as both a Ruby and .NET editor and I have gotten article ideas from the people I follow on Twitter.  Some of the interactions I have with people I interview or write about are on Twitter where I can converse about the writing. 

Come visit Twitter and follow me, I am on as rbazinet.  Twitter is very convenient and productive for so many reasons but it is not about what I am doing.